Wild garlic butter is really simple to prepare and very easy to freeze in serving sized portions. Great with grilled vegetables, fish, chicken or steak.
Wild garlic butter is one of my favourite things to make every Spring. The wild garlic itself (or garlic chives as they are sometimes known) grows thick in the woods and along the sides of rivers. I found a nice big patch of it really near my house just the other day whist driving on back-roads avoiding heavy traffic. What a delight to see a sea of lush green leaves and pretty white flowers – aha I thought, I’ll return later. So I did, with Michelle in tow so that she could share the spoils. Being Canadian Michelle has neither seen nor used wild garlic. Now the smell of a decent patch of wild garlic is somewhat overpowering, however I assure you this doesn’t come through on taste. If you imagine a chive taste with a hit of garlic to it and that’s about it, not too strong, nor harsh.
I’m quite partial to a bit of foraging. There is nothing like a bit of free food that you can pick up for yourself whilst out walking. Whether it be raspberries and blaeberries in the Summer; apples and brambles in Autumn (yes, there is apple tree I know of in the middle of nowhere); or in the case of our walk this morning, a bag full of wild garlic. As with all foraging take care to pick from plants well away from the road to avoid pollution. Be mindful of the environment and take care to pick only the leaves. Don’t tug too hard otherwise you may bring the bulb up and you want to leave those in the ground for next year’s crop.
With our bag of goodies it was straight home and out with the food processor.Wild garlic isn’t around for long so finding ways of preserving it are ideal. I usually make wild garlic butter and also a wild garlic & mint chimichurri sauce. I make both in bulk and freeze in individual portions, ready to take out and use long past the growing season. The butter can be left to melt over grilled vegetables and meat, by own favourite over steak. However, the last few remaining leaves from this haul where chopped up and along with some butter and sour cream and added to tonight’s mashed potato – delightful!
Some other recipes to try using wild garlic are our deliciously fresh Wild Garlic Soup or Wild Garlic Chimichurri.
Wild Garlic Butter
Ingredients
- 250 g salted butter
- 100 g wild garlic leaves
- zest of one lemon - grated
- black pepper
Instructions
- Take the butter out of the fridge and allow to soften a little at room temperature.
- Place the wild garlic leaves in a food processor and pulse to break up the leaves. Add the remaining ingredients and blitz until it is all combined together.
- Spoon the mixture onto some clingfilm in a sausage shape. Fold over the clingfilm and holding the ends together roll gently back and forth to form a regular sausage shape. Place in the fridge and allow to chill for an hour.
- Once the butter has been chilled it is easy to slice and can be used immediately. However if you wish you can slice the butter block, place the slices in a box and freeze until you need it.